


Royal Archival Project Section 5, Appendix H: Notes On A. L. C.

by HigharollaKockamamie



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: False Document, Gen, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 22:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10953570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HigharollaKockamamie/pseuds/HigharollaKockamamie
Summary: Erasing someone from history is an imperfect art, especially an immortal with an odd sense of humor. A pair of archivists follow the traces.





	Royal Archival Project Section 5, Appendix H: Notes On A. L. C.

_[The tape begins with the sound of a clearing throat.]_

Royal Archival Project, Section 5, Appendix H: Notes On A. L. C. Gathered and anthologized by Ignis Scientia and Talcott Hester, second year after sunrise.

While the historical record has been purged of any overt references, certain consistencies can be detected in a wide variety of sources spanning the millennia. The impossibility of solid confirmation and the high likelihood of false positives makes the catalogue of limited academic value. However, it has been included here for the sake of anyone who may find it useful in providing context and background for recent events.

 

**Circa 1100 A.E.** – A letter of complaint in cuneiform inscribed on a tablet. The writer alleges that though he and the recipient had arranged a transaction regarding a shipment of copper bars, for which he had paid in advance, the copper that arrived was not of the agreed-upon quality.

 

**Circa 950 A.E.** \- Another letter of complaint found in later cache, stating that the shipment of copper received was not of the agreed-upon quality and demanding full return of payment.

 

**Circa 500 A.E.** \- A wave of mystery cults culminating in the appearance of Leviathan's Scion, a goddess who manifested in the presence of a chosen prophet of great volubility. She appeared in the form of a jeweled serpent and gave blessings and dire warnings before crowds of worshipers. The enthusiasm and devotion that greeted the goddess were matched only by the outcry when the corruption underlying the faith was exposed, leading to a violent rejection that put an end to the era of public support for new religious institutions for many years.

The goddess herself, judging from contemporary descriptions, is conjectured to have been a hand puppet.

 

**97 A.E.** \- Writings from what is now the Cleigne region, where in this period there were often sightings of Tonberries roaming at night seeking humans. The letter mentions sightings of a man who roamed the town during the day, dressed in sackcloth, carrying a kitchen knife and lit lantern and claiming to do the same.

A contemporary account describes a conclave of philosophers who had, at the end of much debate, arrived at a definition of mankind as 'a featherless, flightless creature that walks upon two legs.' Whereupon the same individual led a plucked chocobo into the hall and declared, “Behold! A man.”

The definition was summarily revised, though unfortunately no records survive stating as to what.

 

**72 M.E.** \- The oldest written appearance of the fable of the Compassion of Lucian Kings, though it is likely to have circulated in oral form for some time previously. As the tale goes, the king and his shield were waking through newly liberated territory to gauge the state of what was now their people when they came upon a beggar sitting by the side of the street. The king stopped before the unfortunate and asked what the liege of the land could do for him. The request given was, “Stand a little to the left.” Upon doing so the king's shadow fell upon the beggar, who went to sleep in the shade.

The archivist can verify that this tale continued to be known among the Lucian royalty well into the present day. This was a favorite of the True King, and of all the tales of his ancestors he was obliged to learn, one of the only he could spontaneously recount. As a man with little use for paternalistic moralizing, it was clear where his sympathies lay. He was...

_[A long intake of breath.]_

_[Muffled, away from the recording equipment]_ No, I'm all right. Let us continue.

 

**121 M.E.** \- Legal proceedings from what is now Duscae.

> The accused stood on charges of blasphemy.
> 
> Alleged statement: 'The most wretched of humans is nobler than the gods.'
> 
> No possibility of denial. Statement was made in the town square before many witnesses, for many days, in the midst of other declamations. The accused had borne warning.
> 
> Rendered guilty.
> 
> Sentence set at execution.
> 
> The condemned did not deny the crime but sought to prove his assertion. The judge in the spirit of justice allowed him one day to provide proof. The condemned stated he required only one hour.
> 
> Condemned was permitted his request of a garula calf, a knife, and a small silver coin. Proceeded under guard to the Temple of the Draconian, where he performed sacrifice. Requested to wait in silence for some minutes. Allowed, as presumed to be in prayer of repentance.
> 
> On leaving temple, condemned gave the coin to a beggar. The beggar gave his thanks.
> 
> The condemned pointed from the temple to the beggar and spoke as follows: “Which of these shewed gratitude?”
> 
> Point taken into deliberation. Execution carried out nevertheless on related charges of corrupting the minds of the youth. Location of remains unknown. Presumed taken to be interred by sympathizers.

 

**270 M. E.** \- From a noblewoman's correspondence.

> I may be able to visit you soon, as after these months of planning, the day of my brother's wedding has finally come and gone. As you know Gratius is a dear man beyond reproach, but his open heart does have a way of attracting eccentric friends. I was just entering with two companions when a man of a striking countenance stopped me at the door. If I were more prone to fancy, I might call his eye glittering. He began speaking in such a singularly odd way that I can hardly recount it but to say he spoke of a plague and ancient wrongs. Just as I was transfixed, he ceased, eyes wandering heavenward as he mused, “Now, what rhymes with darkness?”
> 
> I took the opportunity to mention the merry din inside, and so we continued on and joined the feast. It was a magnificently gay occasion...

Here follows a description of the feast, which is of culinary historical value but bears little relevance to the subject at hand.

It's worthwhile to note that later it was said the reception had more liquor than it was thought to, and a nearby rich man's cellar had rather less.

 

**313 M.E.** \- Church of Titan Incident. The case may be recognized as one often cited in philosophical works as evidence that the gods prefer practicality to overt devotion, and do not take kindly to attempts at usurping the Oracle's role.

A man who took the name of Saxeus decreed that the Archaean required worship. He began to amass quite a few followers, whom he told that a messenger of the divine had appeared to him. This messenger told him several “fearful and wonderful” things, culminating in the assertion that a truly pure-hearted devotee could throw himself into the Disc of Cauthess and emerge unharmed, “clothed in the flesh of ascension.” Such was Saxeus's faith that he gathered his acolytes to kneel in prayer and bear witness as he, clad in brilliant raiment, performed the feat. He was killed instantly.

One could say the church never got off the ground.

 

**370 M.E.** \- From _Seeking Out The Years That Have Vanished_ , a passage noted by a keen-eyed and literary associate:

> I sailed among those countless, nameless islands of Accordo, where at that hour of evening fishermen mended nets and watched my vessel pass with mute and placid eyes. All was precisely as it had been thirty years before when Cora and I here sought spiral shells and watched the sunset, as though the entire assemblage of the tufts of grass clinging to the rocky islands and the salt-dampened piers were a backdrop created by hand to set the stage of my recollection. At the tea shop where we had made our promises I was greeted by a man who had no need to state himself as the son of the former proprietor, as from the lines about the eyes to the shadow of maroon at his neck he was his elder's very image in life. From him I received a cup of tea, ruby-colored, thin and with a spiced sweetness that pulled my consciousness into a time when I had been here and happy.

 

**403 M.E.** \- A stained and frayed journal by an unknown chemist detailing experiments in isolating fluorine. It is curious to find an entry with the conclusion “vapors prove fatal;” more curious to find multiple.

 

**451 M.E.** \- First print of _Sojourner Anathematizo_ by one Otho Scaevola. A lengthy and discursive narrative even by the standards of the time. A recurring word in the reviews is _turgid._ The plot, such as it is, centers on a man who has sold his soul to daemons in exchange for eternal life. He then wanders Eos searching for someone to take up the bargain in his stead. Often this is abandoned for chapters at a time as the text meanders through nesting narratives, travelogues, romances, criticism of the methods of various contemporary historians, subplots about haunted castles and unlikely love affairs, a detailed description of the Gralean sewer system, and a multipart essay on whether Malboros should be taxonomically classified as plant or amphibian. There are plentiful references to and excerpts from other works, including many of uncertain existence. An audiobook is available, but due to length, not recommended.

More interesting than the text itself, however, is the author's correspondence with an editor whose advice was often solicited and rarely listened to. The manuscript pages are thoroughly marked in red ink, and accompanying letters have a great deal of insistent correction with firm but polite argument in response. Seven letters in a row contain an ongoing conflict over the word “bequeath.” One section of the manuscript contains the following passage:

> When Anathematizo's consciousness ebbed back to his cursed flesh, he knew what he was meant to do.
> 
> The proscribed course was set by tradition and the divine. He would fall to his knees, bewailing his fate. He would rend his garments and tear his hair. He was intended to skulk through the world's shadows in voluptuous misery as an abomination and a warning to those whose piety might threaten to waver, to be a spectacle of the grotesque, to shriek and rattle chains, a fearful and pitiable wreck consumed with suffering and moaning maudlin dirges of his crime. He was meant to repent and beg forgiveness, in order that the sanctimonious gods might have, for all of the length of the existence they had prolonged, the pleasure of refusing.
> 
> He decided he would not.

The section is run through in red. Beside is the note, _Tone a clash. Be rid of it!_ Unusually, there is no argument. The passage does not appear in the published edition.

 

**477 M.E.** \- Claim filed with the Patent Office of Tenebrae stating that the submitting party had invented the process for ifritizing rubber. Under _date of invention_ is written _two hundred years ago or thereabouts_.

The claim is stamped DENIED.

 

**575 M.E**. - Beginning of the reign of the Empress Liviana of Niflheim, famous for her fascination with mysticism. She dabbled in attempting to communicate with gods and call spirits, and finally became involved with a man known as Incanesco who turned her interest to esoteric rites and strange acts of divination. Jealous of his influence, a group of courtiers plotted his death. Several attempts met with failure. At wit's end, they poisoned a bottle of wine and arranged for it to be presented to him at a banquet.

From a contemporary account:

> He gazed at the proffered glass a moment, then took instead the bottle itself. He turned it up and drained it to the dregs. When it was dry, he smiled across the hall at [Duke and conspirator] Tractatus. He praised the piquancy of the vintage, and said it would be an inexcusable lapse in manners not to share the final glass.

_[A soft sigh.]_ Really?

 

**617 M.E.** \- Events described in Auctus Pomum's _Final Battle, Final Day, Final Moment_ as follows:

> Of the four would-be assassins in place along the route of the procession, none were successful. The first's grenade rebounded off the side of the carriage, doing no damage but raising the alarm so that the route was changed and avoided the ambush point of the second. The third had a change of heart and found himself unable to go through with the plan. By a stroke of incredible luck, the carriage wandered off course and stopped to turn back directly in front of the cafe where the fourth conspirator waited. However, his weapon jammed at the last moment. Instead, it was a man who was never found or named who fired the fateful shot that took the Count's life.
> 
> There are conflicting accounts concerning what he said. One claims, "So fall our enemies." Another gives it as, "For the glory of the Empire." However, what several other witnesses agree to have heard was, "Oh, might as well."

 

**648 M.E.** \- A ledger from the First Bank of Insomnia. States that an individual by the name of Tabes Abdico attempted to make a withdrawal from a savings account that had accrued significant interest, having been opened in that name two hundred and fifty years previously. As he was able to provide a matching signature and a receipt, the withdrawal was approved.

 

**655-671 M. E.** \- Touring dates of R. Least's Museum and Menagerie of the Fantastickal _[sic]_

A collection of artifacts, hoaxes, and curiosities. Menagerie included exotic flowers, an assortment of performers with unusual talents, live phoenixes (that is to say, birdbeasts dyed in unusual colors) and the Mermaid of Accordo. This creature was kept in a lined box and exhibited only under special lighting, both for preservation and presumably to lessen the chance a guest would notice it consisted of the top half of a goblin sewn to the rear half of a taxidermied fish.

 

**716 M.E.**  - Publication of _The Moon's Alchemy_ :

> For three days in the desert I was a part of the land and the daemons never touched me. The sun throbbed under my skin. In the deep of the night I followed a red glow and saw a man toasting bread over a tame Bomb. He was the magician and the researcher, and I was his subject. He beckoned me close and told me the secrets of the universe.
> 
> "For payment," he said, "each morning, taste your mortality and look to the sun."

Records state that the book enjoyed impressive sales and even academic favor for a short time, but was all but forgotten after the spiritualist fad of the era faded and the public lost its patience for so blatant a fraud. The volume is now remembered mostly through the title of the seminal Green Cherry album _Taste Your Mortality._

 

**755 M.E.**  - Date of a letter of complaint found in the ruins of Gralea, addressed to Imperial Materials Inc., a construction company with connections to the Niflheimian government. It concerns a shipment of copper wire and seeks the refund of a prior payment. The wire was not of the agreed-upon quality.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by that one post about the ancient Mesopotamian guy who left a legacy of people etching tablets about his shady business practices.
> 
> The working title of this one was _Ardyn Is Every Jackass._
> 
> You can find me over at [higharollakockamamie.tumblr.com](https://higharollakockamamie.tumblr.com/)


End file.
